Oxbow Feshing

Other than going over to Greenville with Andy a few years ago I have not fished the oxbows during the summer in a very long time, like 35 years or so. Well after hearing a report of Whittington producing some fish and really just wanting to look at some knew water we headed out yesterday morning.
Getting on the water around 830 or so as we got a late start and really weren't sure of where we were going we make a short run up the lake and set her down, drop the troller and head north. Think we had 3 rods out when the wifes cousin says "We got one"! Its on my side but I was fooling with getting the rods together so he grabbed it, doesn't really matter cause he don't get to go much so let him have at it. Well, he pick up the rod and its doubled up and fighting pretty good, when it comes up its a largemouth about 4 1/2 pounds having his way with the crappie poles. Get him to the back of the boat and in he comes, remembering the first fish thread from last week we decide to put him in the box as we don't want to hex the rest of the trip.
Get the rest of the rods out and we are ready for some white perch!!!! We made a pretty long pull without much happening other than a gar or two, and the phone rings. On the other end was Torch wanting to know if we had made it, told him we had and that we hadn't done much yet. We discussed where we were and he gave us some more instructions. following his lead we started to pick up one all along. Oxbow feshing way different from feshing the COE lakes, lot of action all day long as far as things going on and them flying carp are just crazy. Even saw 4 spoonbill's jump completely out of the water and saw a shark fin swim by the boat one time!!!:yikes
At 330 we decided to roll em up and head in, finished the day with 13 good keepers, nothing under 12 1/2 and most over 14 inches so we were pleased with our day being as it was our first time there.
Get to the ramp and the man who runs Little Man's was there and was asking how we did. We show him and he says, "Aint but one other fellow that catches like that over here this time of the year and that's Ole Torch, you guys know him?" I told him as a matter a fact we did, thought we wouldn't get away but enjoyed the visit.
Want to say thanks to Torch for the info and the willingness to help a fellow fisherman, brought back to mind the reason I joined Crappie.com and how willing folks were to help. He checked on us through out the day several times and we talked to him again as we were heading home.
Thanks Torch for helping us have a great trip yesterday!!!
http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/...psspufnbe4.jpg

Rees, looking at possibly going to Lake Washington this weekend and do the same thing... I never hear of anyone pulling cranks there on the board but I have seen enough posts and a couple of made for tv shows to know there are some nice fish there. Any advise on Washington?

PM sent

Nothing like those oxbows for excitement.

So torch how bout some waypoints????

nice catch John....I would have figured the river was in it too much for any kind of troll fishing....wtg

Nice catch John

Good report

It was trashy and had to dodge drifts and crap but with braid line it can be done without much loss, not where I would have wanted to start out cranking 3 years ago but now its not so bad. Lost 3 baits, 2 to a line of some sort and 1 to a gar that got in the prop, prolly pulled loose 50 times without ever stopping. reinforced that switching to braid was a good idea, its more expensive in the beginning but it will cut the bait loss down to a manageable number. Push pole caught at least a third of the on a color I only had one of, will remedy that tomorrow.:biggrin

What color was hot Dawg???

Yellow with a red back, 200 Bandit, anything bright yellow more so than char with so red on it seemed to work. had a lot of players too, no telling how many times we changed baits.

Good report!

sounds like a great day congrats rees!!!

Looks like y'all had a great time. Good catch too.. I used to fish up there in the late 60s and early 70s, prolly wouldn't recognize it now.. It was fun tho, like y'all had

Nice

John next time you're in my back yard and don't buy me lunch, we're gonna have some problems! Btw, you've inspired me to go fish Whittington this weekend

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MO' MONEY

John next time you're in my back yard and don't buy me lunch, we're gonna have some problems! Btw, you've inspired me to go fish Whittington this weekend

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I will just come over and get in the boat with you, you was in Toledo anyway!!

Come on anytime... You're just nitpicking details now!

Lol

Rees, I am new to the site and know very little about crappie fishing or crappie in general. I am a MS Coast native and always fished saltwater. I bought some land a few years ago just North of Belzoni MS that has an old lake on it. The lake is approximately 40 -50 acres, the lake is mostly around 5' deep with a few spots being 8'-10' deep. It has a good catfish population due to old commercial catfish ponds draining in it with some bass and bream, but I have not caught any crappie in it yet. I am not overly concerned about stocking the lake with crappie and them overpopulating the lake due to the current amount of predator fish in the lake (Grennill, Bass, & Catfish) as well as a big flock of Cormorants roosting and feeding in the lake. The lake does not go dry in the summers and has a good cypress tree poplulation, but with the lake mainly being around 5' will crappie survive? Any info would help, thanks.

Buzbe, with a lake that size I would think it would take a lot of fish being introduced to populate it. If it has all the normal delta predators(bass gar grinnel catfish) it should keep the numbers somewhat in check. You will need some tight cover for the crappie to hold in while they are small. If they aren't regulated in a few years there will be a ton of small fish in the pond. If the bass are healthy and there is plenty of forage, I think you would be ok. But I'm no biologist. Best bet would be a good pond manager to tell you exactly what will be the best for your particular lake. Some will come shock it and see what kind of fish it's holding and populations. But as far as depth, lake I live on has a max depth of 9-10 ft and has a really good crappie population.